I am very sad to have to announce that Jeff Marshall, who blogged on TfTT as TheRotter, passed away suddenly on December 13, 2023. Since he was one of our most reliable bloggers, I was quite concerned when there was no sign of his blog for Quickie 2553 in the early morning hours of December 21. My fears were not unfounded; two days later, I received the news of his death.
Thanks to Linda Marshall, I am pleased to be able to present the following brief biographical tribute:
Jeff Marshall was born on June 28, 1951 in Nottingham. He attended the Thurnby Lodge Primary School and the Gateway Grammar School in Leicester. In January of 1968, he joined the Royal Navy in as an Engine Room Artificer (ERA) apprentice. Following almost four years of shore based apprentice training in Cornwall and Fife, he served at sea as a chief petty officer in HM Ships Ark Royal, Blake and Londonderry, in which he participated in the Icelandic Cod War.
Ashore he gave engineering support at the Naval bases in Portsmouth and Plymouth as well as to the Royal Marines landing craft section at Poole, from which he was deployed to The Falklands post-hostilities as part of the team re-instating the military infrastructure on the islands.
Jeff was an intellectual at heart with a broad range of interests including literature, poetry, mathematics, cosmology and science; his hero was Albert Einstein. He never lost his enthusiasm for gaining knowledge and whilst at sea continued his academic studies with the Open University, gaining a mathematics degree.
He subsequently gained his Lieutenant’s commission at Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth, where he was awarded the Queen’s Telescope as the top student. His promotion also saw him say farewell to marine engineering as he changed career path to become an Instructor Officer, where he remained until leaving the Navy.
In civilian life, Jeff joined the staff of King’s College London. Initially he took the position as Head of Technical Operations on the senior management team of the IT department, before eventually being promoted to Director of Procurement. As Director, he oversaw the college’s contracting function, from off-shoring the student recruitment system to ensuring the compliance of the procurement contracts. He made a significant contribution to the college and retired in 2018.
He was gifted in his ability to apply logic to problem solving, something he loved doing. He started doing crosswords as a young man, working through various levels of crosswording until eventually discovering the Times, which became his favourite. His day always started with the Times Crossword and he was delighted when he won the prize for the Sunday Mephisto. He took great pleasure in blogging, even when travelling…..regardless of the time difference.
Jeff was a man of great warmth and kindness who was renowned for his cutting wit and arid sense of humour! His loss is immeasurable.
Here at Times for The Times, Jeff was one of our steadiest bloggers, He joined the Quickie blogging team on April 7, 2016, when Olivia Rhinebeck had to give up blogging the Thursday Quickie and was replaced by TheRotter and RolyToly on alternate Thursdays. In his time as a blogger, Jeff never missed a blog, and posted a total of 204 Quickie blogs. Jeff had many fans among the Quickie commenters, some of whom considered him the best and most engaging blogger. He will be missed.
How sad to read this. I don’t usually comment but do read the blog and was always delighted to see it was his turn, he brought a warmth and wit. Thank you for letting us see the accomplished man behind the writing and condolences to his friends and family
How very sad! RIP The Rotter.
A lovely tribute. Thankyou!
I always enjoyed my communications/messages with Jeff. Very much a man after my own heart.
A very sad loss.
Sincere condolences to Linda, the rest of his family and his friends.
So sad. I remember when he consulted us all about changing his userpic. We were all horrified. He and his avatar were part of the fabric of TfTT. He will be missed
Absolutely!
Such sad news. Thank you for sharing Linda’s eulogy with us. He’ll be very much missed. RIP Jeff.
RIP The Rotter. You will be sadly missed.
This is desperately sad news. He was one of the Bloggers I always looked forward to reading, and he would respond kindly to my occasional leg pulling about his naval career. An Open University degree and finishing top in his year at Dartmouth are fine achievements, and I just hope he found his blogging duties similarly rewarding. RIP, Rotter.
RIP, Jeff. We exchanged many a message ‘behind the scenes’ and I shall miss him no longer being around.
Very sad news indeed. I shall miss his sense of humour most of all. I often recall one of his mischievous rules ‘if it doesn’t parse, it’s probably ……..’
Thanks for the tribute, much appreciated.
RIP Rotter, thanks for the blogs and condolences to the family.
Thanks for this little tribute, beautifully written
RIP, and thanks for all the blogs.
Very sad news. I always enjoyed Jeff’s contributions here, and it was a pleasure to meet him at the George earlier this year. My sincere condolences to Linda and the family.
RIP Rotter and thanks to Vinyl1 for sharing the biography, what an interesting life. I don’t routinely read the QC blog but was aware of him as a particularly great blogger. Condolences to the family.
Sad news but glad to read of such a full life. He will be greatly missed. Thanks to Linda for sharing with us.
Farewell to my fellow Thursday blogger. We had a kind of a friendly rivalry about who would be able to solve the puzzle the fastest and get the blog up, always trying to get it out before 1am his time and 8pm mine. Did not know much of his past, but what a fascinating life.
Rather late in the day, I should like to add my own tribute. I have read Jeff’s blogs from the beginning and as many others have commented they were always entertaining and encouraging to beginners. His avatar, both picture and name, showed his wit. RIP Rotter, you will be missed.
Barry J
Oh, what a loss. We shall miss his wit and warmth.
How very sad to die so young.
Never met him in person but he always came across as a great guy.
Do they have crosswords on the other side?
Very saddened to hear this and condolences to his family; I always enjoyed his comments and humour and regarded him as a true gentleman, it is our sad loss.
What dreadfully sad news. I often wondered why Jeff (as we now know him) used the Rotter as a nickname – it was clear from his kindness and encouragement to struggling newbies and his warm humour and great sense of fun that he was most certainly an absolute gentleman.
What an amazing life and what a great hole he will leave in many people’s lives.
My condolences to all his loved ones.
I am very new to the blog, and The Rotter was one of the contributors I was always amused by. Sad news.
Seeing the sad news about my fellow Thursday QC blogger came as quite a shock. It was lovely to read about his rich and varied life, and it adds a lot of colour to the warm and witty personality I had come to know over the years. RIP Jeff, you will be missed.
How sad. I agree with all the positive remarks above, and enjoyed his comments immensely. His Terry Thomas profile picture just added to the fun. And a Nottingham lad too: well well.
Oh, how terribly, terribly sad. I don’t post much, these days, but I always do the QC and always read the blog. I loved Rotter’s comments. He was such a kind and witty man.
LouisaJaney
Sad news. My sincere condolences to Jeff’s family.
Although I never met him in person I feel I have lost a friend. Condolences to his family. RIP Rotter.
Very sad news indeed. The term ‘scholar and a gentleman’ seems to fit perfectly.
I echo the many comments and shall miss Rotter’s humour, precision and attentitiveness to this community. I’m sure from the bio that there are many communities feeling his loss.
So sad. Condolences to friends and family. He brought enlightenment and humour. He will be surely missed. Richard